Friday, November 17, 2006

Magyar master.

You have to be getting on in years to remember the England-Hungary football match which took place in November 1953 and which changed for ever the way the game was played in this country. The result - Hungary won 6-3 and showed us a completely new approach to the game, based on keeping possession (which, shock-horror, sometimes involved passing the ball backwards!) and playing through defences rather than relying on high crosses and headers. What I most clearly remember was that they could easily have scored another 3 or more goals, but having established a winning lead, appeared to decide they didn't want to humiliate the country they saw as the cradle of the game. They were gentlemen, and non more so than Ferenc Puskás, their captain, who himself scored one goal of sheer magic. I doubt your like will come along again. RIP.

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